(From top) The champion football teams of La Martiniere for Boys, Future Hope girls and The Frank Anthony Public School at Salt Lake stadium during Atletico de Kolkata’s match against FC Pune City last Friday. (Jhinuk Mazumdar)

The black shirts and the white-and-red shirts were cheering for the same team but they wouldn’t sit together.

How could they? La Martiniere for Boys, dressed in black, had defeated The Frank Anthony Public School, in white and red, 2-0 in the semi-final of Calcutta’s premier inter-school football tournament just a few months ago.

While the flush of victory and the pain of defeat were still fresh, the Keventer Cup rivalry played out in the stands didn’t detract from the boys’ mission. They were all there at the Salt Lake stadium last Friday evening to cheer for Atletico de Kolkata and learn from what they saw on the field.

Also in the stands was the football team of Future Hope, winner of the girls’ championship for the Keventer Cup.

The 50-odd tickets for the three schools had been provided by the Debanjan Sen Foundation, which organises the Keventer Cup.

Atletico’s defeat at the hands of FC Pune City, its first in the Indian Super League, may have been hard to swallow for the school footballers but the evening did bring its rewards. “The match was so engaging that each one of us feels grateful for the experience,” said Aakash Dave, captain of the Keventer Cup-winning La Martiniere team. “It is crazy and brilliant to see (Luis) Garcia and Fikru (Teferra). Who would have thought they would come and play in India? The ISL has managed to achieve that.”

The consensus was that the quality of football in the league so far had been inspirational.

The boys discussed moves and formations, and the passing and the speed and energy of the foreign recruits in both teams had them awestruck.

“The foreigners are very thorough in the way they control the ball and their energy level is high compared to the local boys,” said Ninian Daniel, coach of the Frank Anthony team.

The Frank Anthony boys tried to draw a parallel between the Atletico-FC Pune battle and their own last match in the inter-Frank Anthony triangular championship that they won in Bangalore last month.

But it was not all serious. After Atletico de Kolkata had conceded the first goal, some of the Frank Anthony boys kept shouting for coach Antonio Lopez Habas’s attention, saying he could consider fielding their star striker and captain Liam Bain to make a match of it.

Like Garcia, Bain wears the No. 10 jersey.

The boys didn’t shy away from giving some advice to their heroes as well. “If you have to win, you need to take shots,” screamed a member of the team in exasperation when ATK star Fikru chose a pass over a shot at the FC Pune goal.

Atletico’s failure to score as the minutes ticked by told on the young fans’ nerves. “I am tense,” confessed Aakash midway through the second half.

Although the presence of three champion school teams in the stands couldn’t inspire an Atletico victory, the disappointment didn’t linger.

“It was disappointing to see the home team lose but as footballers we know that it is never easy on the field, although it might seem so to the spectators,” Liam said.

For the Debanjan Sen Foundation, giving three school teams the opportunity to watch the match was a goal scored.

“Our aim is not only to organise events or tournaments but to help kids develop their skills, give them the highest level of exposure and also popularise the game. We also acknowledge the contribution of Armaan Charna of STAR Sports towards arranging the tickets,” said Debashis Sen, father of La Martiniere alumnus Debanjan Sen.

Debashis and wife Sreemanti had set up the foundation in memory of their son, a talented footballer.

The aim of the foundation is to carry forward Debanjan’s dream of making football in India as popular a sport as cricket and his wish to help groom footballers who would stand up to the world’s best.

“It is a strange coincidence that Debanjan, when he was in college, had done a project on marketing football as a sport with top companies involved. This is what is happening in ISL now,” Debasish said.

Members of each of the school teams said they benefited immensely from the experience of seeing how international footballers play.

“It was kind of team bonding to be here watching a match that we otherwise wouldn’t have enjoyed together. In terms of learning, the foreigners definitely have brought more pace and strategy into the game,” said midfielder Declyn Gomes of La Martiniere.

Promit Banerjee of Frank Anthony was hopeful till the last moment that Atletico would score two more to draw the game. “Big teams concede first and then come back,” said the Class X student.

Sunirmal Chakravarthi, principal of La Martiniere for Boys, was delighted that his school’s football team had watched an ISL match together. “When they (the students) see quality players, they understand that it’s not just about skills but also about stamina, strength and build. It makes them think, ‘If I want to be there, I have to be like that’.”

Ruksar Khatoon, a Class V student at Future Hope, is already nurturing a dream. “One day, perhaps, I will be playing in a stadium like this amidst the firecrackers and the cheering,” she said.

What lessons can young footballers take from the ISL? Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com